[MDOsprey] White Pelican -- VA too [21 & 22 Aug]

SSUTER (ssuter@aaas.org)
Mon, 23 Aug 1999 09:07:24 -0400 

     As Bob Ringler noted in his post from Sat, around 1225 EDT on Sat (21 
     Aug) the White Pelican came out of its thermal and began a long slow 
     glide to the SW.  I was on the VA shoreline just N of the Wilson 
     Bridge at the time and watched it through my Questar until it was 
     quite close to the shoreline.  It crossed into VA just S of the bridge 
     and seemed to be on a faily level path (occasional flapping) when we 
     lost it behind trees and towers to the SW.
     
     I spent 1250 to 1440 EDT looking through the shorebirds at the mouth 
     of Hunting Creek (primarily from the GW Parkway bridge).  While I was 
     scoping birds to the West, a birder looking East from the bridge found 
     the White Pelican on the exposed flats E of the mouth of the creek.  
     It remained there as the tide came in (low tide was c 1125).  We 
     showed it to a NPS ranger and some volunteers who passed by on bikes.  
     I watched it on and off from c 1330 to 1430:  Standing, preening, and 
     scratching head while the bar was exposed; swimming back and forth, 
     fishing, playing with a stick (that it would pick up, hold cross-wise 
     in bill, drop, probe about, and pick up again ... for 2 or 3 minutes) 
     after the bar was flooded.  Just after 1430 it flew off E over river.  
     First slow flapping to climb and circle upwards, then soaring about 
     over cove in front of "Washington Harbor" clearing, then crossing out 
     of sight upriver.  [Got excellent views from 200-250 m in nice light 
     while the bird was on the bar and water.]  [The cove at the mouth of 
     Hunting Creek is in VA (with the boundary running just W of S from the 
     Jones Point corner of DC); the main channel and the Hydrilla mats E of 
     it are MD waters.]
     
     [Around 1825, while returning from a walk down the Dyke Marsh haul 
     road, I scoped N under the Wilson Bridge from the point just N of the 
     Belle Haven marina boat ramp.  Through the Questar, the pelican was 
     visible well beyond the bridge in line with the mouth of Oxon Creek.]
     
     On Sunday the midday low tide was about 1220.  I got to the mouth of 
     Hunting Creek about 1350.  The pelican was present over the already 
     flooded bar to the East of the GW Parkway bridge.  (Had a camera and 
     got a few distant shots.)  It remained until c 1455, when it flew off 
     to the E, circled upwards, and headed up river.  I searched up river 
     from 1520 to 1700 without success.  (Checking from Jones Point up to 
     Alexandria waterfront at Duke St, and scoping far upriver and along MD 
     shores from Blue Plains STP south.)  A couple of people were at the 
     foot of Jones Pt Road most of this time and they also failed to see 
     the bird.  The reason for our failure became clear when I headed home: 
     the pelican was again over the flooded bar at the mouth of Hunting 
     Creek at 1705-1730.  [It was not there at 1930.]
     
     Sherman Suter
     Alexandria, VA 22307